Teacher Smackdown

In Illinois, teacher Jon Andrew White is accused of molesting 11 students nine at Urbana’s Thomas Paine Elementary School and two at Colene Hoose Elementary in Normal. All were second grade girls.

White faces three counts of predatory criminal sexual assault, and 13 counts of aggravated criminal abuse. If convicted of two of the more serious predatory criminal sexual assault counts, White faces a mandatory sentence of life in prison.

Not only did White molest the children, but schoool officials were slow to remove him from the classroom after parents told them about a “tasting game” White was playing with their children. Parents said that although the principal, superintendent and human resources director were notified of White’s behavior in November of 2005, the second-grade teacher remained in his classroom until January 31, 2006 when police arrested him at work.

(This is horrible and the school district knows it. Maybe that’s why the principal, superintendent and HR director have all retired since the case came to light.)

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In Livermore, California, police arrested gymnastics instructor, Carlos Amaro (a.k.a. Julian Amaro) on suspicion of molesting one of his underage male students.

Amaro, 25, is a national acrobatic gymnastics champion and the owner and head instructor at West Coast Acrobatics. He previously worked as an instructor for Gymfinity Gymnastics. Both studios are in Livermore.

He has been competing nationally since 1997. In 2005, he finished first in the National Team Trials, and earned him and his partner a spot on the U.S. national team.

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In Long Island, karate instructor James Bonfiglio, 37, was arrested for sexually abusing a 13-year-old male student. He is being charged with criminal sexual act, sexual abuse and endangering the welfare of a child.

Bonfiglio is the owner of Excel Karate Academy in Ronkonkoma, New York, and has access to hundreds of kids. The sexual abuse took place in Bonfiglio’s apartment, in an apartment complex where many children live. Bonfiglio frequently volunteered with children’s organizations including the Suffolk County Division of Handicapped Services and at an after-school program run by the Suffolk County Police Athletic League in the Connetquot district school.

He passed a criminal history and sexual registry check before he was allowed to teach in the program. He has no previous criminal record according to his lawyer.

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In Lincoln Nebraska, power-lifting coach and youth volunteer, James C. Hart, 48, is jailed on charges of possessing and creating a child pornography video.

Hart used a MySpace account to persuade underage girls to take nude pictures of themselves and send them to him. Using the screen name “J-C,” his profile said he was 18-years-old and had over 1,000 MySpace friends.

A mom who found sexually explicit images of her 16-year-old daughter on the family PC started the investigation. (Way to go mom!) She found out that Hart was coercing her daughter to send him more and more pictures via his MySpace account.

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In Aztec, New Mexico, Koogler Middle School’s new choir teacher Jonathan Hamilton, 33, was arrested during a police sting that targeted illegal public sexual activity at a city park. He allegedly exposed himself to a plainclothes officer. Whoops!

He was one of 15 arrested in the sting operation that targeted public male (i.e. gay) sexual encounters. Several of the men busted included prominent community members, a pastor, a business owner and a part-time college instructor.

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Track coach Klint Wescom, 30, is charged with sexually abusing a 17-year-old female student. Wescom works at Grayslake Central High School in Grayslake, Illinois and was charged with one count of criminal sexual assault and one count of aggravated criminal sexual abuse.

The student was one of several members of the track team who began visiting Wescom’s home to play board games. The student began visiting Wescom at his home by herself, and sexual contact took place between the two during the early morning hours of May 5.

Police seized Wescom’s computer to review correspondence between him and the teen. Text messages and postings on Facebook.com linked the girl and Wescom. (Click here to view Wescom’s Facebook page.)

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Conifer High School, Conifer Colorado, yearbook pictures, drugs and alcohol, teen drug use, teenage drinking

In Fort Collins, Colorado, Robert Snyder, 51, will spend the next two years in the county jail for performing oral sex on two male students and inappropriately touching them and another student. One of the victims was 11 and two were 13.

Snyder pleaded guilty to sexual assault on a child and unlawful sexual contact to avoid going to trial on multiple sex assault charges that could have put him in prison for life.

Snyder is a world-renowned chess player, coach and author of Chess for Juniors: A Complete Guide for the Beginner.He taught chess to children ages five to 17 at his home in Fort Collins, and frequently accompanied students to chess tournaments across the country. Snyder also taught online classes (his website chessforjuniors.com has been taken down) and at schools in Longmont, Loveland, Boulder, Hygiene, and Denver.

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In Long Island, Nicholas Panos, 74, was arrested for first-degree and second-degree sexual assault for innapropriately touching an eight and an 11-year-old girl at the Three Village Music Shoppe during piano lessons.

The 8-year-old said that Panos placed his hand on her genitals on several occasions. The 11-year-old told her dad she was touched on her breasts and buttocks by her teacher. The father called police, who investigated the charges.

Since his initial arrest last year, several complaints about Panos have surfaced from former students. The owners of the music store defended Panos saying he has rented a studio for his lessons at the shop for the last 21 years and taught piano for about four decades. They said that Panos made a point of teaching with the studio door open, next to other students receiving lessons, and that there is a nearby waiting area for parents.

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Nicholas Panos, piano teacher, sexual abuse, assault, molestation, students

At least Mrs. Robinson waited for Benjamin Braddock of The Graduate to leave college, because today’s “older woman” is preying on high school boys.

Elizabeth, Colo. high school English teacher, Darcie Esson, 32, was arrested and charged with sexual assault on a child for having sex with a 17-year-old male student on the floor of her Glenwood Springs hotel room. The incident took place while her two children and their 17-year-old babysitter slept on beds in the same room, an arrest affidavit stated.

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